I have been asked before to tutor kids on chess however time is the enemy and I cannot fit this in to my schedule. I started playing chess at the age of 5 and to be honest, I did stop for a few years; well just to get married and then I started again. I believe chess is the best game in the world for kids to learn. It teaches patience, tactics, strategy, thinking outside the box, respect for an opponent but most of all, it is the most fun you can have with a slab of wood and marked out into squares and 32 pieces of plastic or wood shaped like wee horses or castles. And once you have purchased these items you can play as many times as you want free of charge, forever.
Kids and chess just go together. It is a natural way for children to utilise their energy which has been bottled up sitting in school all day. It gets their brain working. Did you know that kids are getting more dense than at any other period in history. This is because they are not taught to think. They have computers and calculators to do their thinking for them. I don't think they realise the joy you get when you resolve a problem all by yourself without using an electronic crutch to help you out. And this is where chess and kids are perfect partners.
Throughout a chess game many challenges, problems, irritations and much more will arise and the child will have no alternative than to try and work out a solution. If he or she does not, it's no big deal, they have tried and that is the point. The experience will be stored in their memory and will be used to good effect the next time a similar situation arises and that is not only for chess. These experience will help them resolve life's challenges.
I was a shy kid growing up in Glasgow, Scotland and went to an inner city school. I could not fight to save myself. To compensate I relied on a lot of the problem solving experiences from chess games which gave me some confidence in my own capabilities. I would say to myself "they may be stronger than me but I could stuff them at chess".
Children should be taught chess, they will not always win but but they will not always lose. It is an imitation of life. An opponent of mine, when we were kids, used to accidentally knock the board over if he was losing or he would leave the table saying he had to go in for his tea. Guess what, I have just been told by his wife that when he gets beat at any board game against his kids he still makes excuses not to finish the game and storms out. Chess is for kids and hopefully it will teach them to take defeat in their stride. Put it down to experience and learn from it. This will be an invaluable attitude for any child to learn and they will be able to take this characteristic through to adulthood.
